Mad about Mushrooms . . .

Where have all the morels gone?

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing

Pete Seeger famously asked "Where have all the flowers gone?" in 1955, and we're asking "Where have all the morels gone?" in the spring of 2019. 

Our mushroom reporters are sending us e-mails concluding that it's been a far from abundant year for these much-loved mushrooms.  In fact, most of our informants state that morels are simply not to be found.  We personally have searched diligently on Mt. Hood, our usual stomping ground for these spring fungi, with little success.  Sure, the signs are good (warming earth, appropriate vegetation, plenty of winter rain, etc.), yet there are no Morchella to be lovingly placed in our baskets.  Yes, the scenery is great and the weather is pleasant, but we miss our first edible mushrooms of the year with their honeycomb caps and intricate network of ridges and pits and ever-so-yummy flavor!

How sweet the memory of past morel seasons!

Annual NAMA foray planned for Upstate New York this year

Here's another opportunity to create and/or nurture mycological comradeship and to increase your knowledge of all things mycological:  NAMA's annual foray, which is scheduled for August 8-11 at Paul Smith's College on Lower St. Regis Lake in Upstate New York.  We're confident that you'll be delighted with the event and enriched by attending. 

Steven and I still treasure memories of our initial NAMA foray 26 years ago, and the very special occasion it offered to be with those who had committed themselves to enhancing amateur mycology.  We waited 25 years to attend our second NAMA annual foray, which was held in Salem, Oregon last year.  We won't make that mistake again, waiting another 25 years to register for another NAMA foray, you can be sure of that.  Perhaps we'll even see you at Paul Smith's College!

Is there a link between eating mushrooms and memory?

Nicholas Bakalar wrote the following piece for the New York Times a couple of months ago suggesting that older men and women who ate mushrooms several times a week were at reduced risk of developing mild cognitive impairment.  We think that the information offered is so important that we have pasted it verbatim below.  We hope that you, dear reader, will also find it to be thought provoking.

A Cautionary Tale

We certainly started off confidently, decked out in our finest mushrooming gear, and headed up the mountain in search of puffballs and verpa.  But things quickly came to a halt when we found our favorite spots still quite damp from melting snow and lacking the blue flowers that typically signal that all is well in the mushroom fields.  Undaunted, we decided to randomly stop at a couple of new-to-us spots and investigate what treasures these locations might hold. 

We pulled off to the side of the road with the intention of me meandering back into the forests lining the roadway in order to check for current and future possibilities.  Steven inquired:  Shall I turn the car around while you're gone?  I replied:  Sure, great idea. That's when things started to go amiss.

SENIORS: Eat your mushrooms

Yes, seniors:  Eat your mushrooms! 

A team from the Department of Psychological Medicine and Department of Biochemistry at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) published information online in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease on 12 March 2019 that concluded "seniors who consume more than two standard portions of mushrooms weekly (about 3/4 cup or about 150 grams of cooked mushrooms) may have 50 per cent reduced odds of having mild cognitive impairment (MCI)."

Even the common oyster mushroom may have
beneficial effects when it comes to reducing MCI!

There is really something new under the sun!

Just when we thought we knew it all, that there was really nothing new under the sun:  that is, thought we understood how to rehydrate mushrooms.  Then, here comes one of our trusted cooking sources, Cruise, recommending another way to rehydrate mushrooms.  Oh, well, live and learn, I guess. 

"To get the most flavor from dried mushrooms, soak them in ice water rather than hot.  Rehydration will take longer, but the mushrooms will have richer flavor and a less spongy texture."

Give it a try.  We did.  And, we liked the result in spite of the fact that we had to invest a longer time in dinner prep.  Some things are simply worth a little bit extra time, don't you agree!

Bon appétit!

 

 

Mushroom Permit Information, thanks to Oregon Mycological Society

Securing permits to gather wild mushrooms in the woodlands of Oregon can be a little intimidating (not to mention onerous!) so we really appreciate how Tamara Hartley (OMS Field Trip Coordinator) has condensed this information into a very usable reference.  We're passing on her information because all of us need to be aware of the permit requirements.  Two thumbs up, Tamara, for this public service!

Not all mushrooms are edible but all are 
lovely to gaze upon, such as these non-edibles
growing on a tree near to our home.
 

A new way of looking at myself

I never really thought it would happen to me.  I'm so careful.  But it did happen, and I'd like to share some thoughts about mushroom poisoning with you.

The day started off like any other vacation day.  We were enjoying ourselves at a cool little B&B on the southern Washington coast.  The facility was cute and well-appointed, and it featured a mushroom-themed dinner on the second night of our visit.

Like other guests at the B&B, we spent our day exploring the sights of the area.  We took camera in hand to snap shots of the various fungi we would discover along Highway 101 and its intersecting back roads.  It had been years since we'd visited this area, and we really enjoyed it.  The old growth woods were certainly inviting, lush and relatively free of litter, and it was a spectacularly clear and beautiful day.  Although the mushrooms weren't abundant (thanks to a lack of significant rainfall), there was enough variety to hold our interest even to the point of foregoing lunch and relying on dinner to satisfy our appetite for the day.

That night we were treated to a delectable 4 course meal that featured 2 mushroom appetizers (one of which included slices of raw Matsutake), a salad topped with mixed, lightly sauteed Chanterelle and Bolete mushrooms, an entree of braised beef short ribs and giant sea scallops with Porcini mushrooms, and finished with a mushroom-free but scrumptious frozen chocolate mousse with salted caramel, chantilly and hazelnuts dessert.  What could be nicer, we asked ourselves as we tucked ourselves in between the layers of our luxurious bed.  

A Bolete is offering a feast to those who dine here in the forest.

Our Fall "Tune Up"

It's fall, and we've performing our annual tune up of all things mushroom.  We've cleaned our baskets and knives, reviewed our mushroom diary, perused our resource books.  We concluded the tune up by sorting/updating our mushroom hunting gear and accessories: forest maps, emergency first aid and food kits, towels, compass, whistles, camera, altimeter, flashlights, and so forth - gosh, we've been busy!

These lovely Woolly Chanterelles shared the landscape
with the showy red-purple leaves of Black Mountain
Huckleberries and with the Vine Maples which are just hinting
of their vividly colored autumn foliage to come.

Make 2018 the Year that You Participate in the Wonderful World of Mushroom Festivals

It's that wonderful time of year again, when the enthusiasm and expertise 0f mycological societies across our great land combine to host mushroom festivals in celebration of the fruits of the forest floor and of the dining table.

As is our custom, we're presenting a list of the festivals-fairs-walks, etc. which cause the mushroomer's pulse to throb and surge as we soak in the pleasures of all things fungi. 

A cautionary note:  Although we make every effort to be correct in our details, please contact the sponsoring group of the event that you choose to attend in order to verify that the event is as we've shown it. 

 

What was in your mushroom basket
this year?